Maria Vos

She was born to the family of a stockbroker. She originally studied what would now be called "home economics" at a French boarding school in Weesp.[1] But, as was common for upper-class young ladies at the time, she also received drawing lessons, from Christiaan Andriessen. Later, she studied painting with Petrus Kiers.[2] In 1844, she had a showing at the Exhibition of Living Masters and, in 1847, became an honorary member of the "Royal Academy of Fine Arts" in Amsterdam.[2]

She worked there until 1853, when she moved to Oosterbeek and joined a group of painters known as the Hollandse Barbizon. In 1863, her friend, Adriana Johanna Haanen, the sister-in-law of her teacher, Kiers, joined her there. Seven years later, they built a home known as the "Villa Grada", where they gave drawing and painting lessons.[1] Haanen died in 1895, but Vos remained and became one of the last artists in residence there. On her eightieth birthday, she received a personal tribute from seventy members of Arti et Amicitiae.[1]

Although Vos is primarily known for still lifes, she also did portraits, landscapes and cityscapes, including a series of watercolors depicting Oosterbeek. She mostly exhibited in the Netherlands and Belgium, but also had a showing at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia.[2] Much of her work has been lost (or misplaced), but due to the sheer quantity of her output, much remains.[1] Major retrospectives of her work were held in 1973 and 2002.

• 
  Still Life with Stoneware Mug
• 
  Vegetable Stall
• 
  Still Life with Goldfish Bowl
• 
  Hunting Still Life

• Martina Maria Doornik-Hoogenraad, Maria Vos: een Gelderse schilderes 1824-1906 (exhibition catalog), Stedelijk Museum Zutphen, 1973

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maria Vos.

• Maria Vos on Artnet